The owner of the fuel pumps in Praça da Organização da Mulher Moçambicana (OMM) escaped an attempted kidnapping on Friday night in Maputo city.

According to some reports we have had access to, including the STVThe act was carried out by a South African man who questioned the businessman inside the convenience store next to the pumps.

The area is usually patrolled by the Republic of Mozambique Police (PRM), so during the criminal action, when it was around 8pm, there was an exchange of fire between the PRM and the individual.

The perpetrator was shot and lost his life at Maputo Central Hospital, where he had been taken. A PRM agent was also shot and is receiving medical treatment.

The spokesman for the PRM in Maputo city, Leonel Muchina, said that before the raid on the businessman, a vehicle was already circling the fuel pumps with suspicious movements.

"The owner of this establishment was inside the convenience store, and there was a movement prior to this of a suspicious vehicle that was going around these fuel pumps. Suddenly this situation arises where he goes to the convenience store and therefore, due to its movement, it raises some suspicion," he said.

He said that when the individual was approached, he didn't hesitate to "pull out a gun". With this, the PRM understood it to be a kidnapping.

"It's immediately clear that there were intimate intentions to remove this owner from the commercial establishment, which is a convenience store attached to the fuel pumps," he said.

The police confirmed that the perpetrator was South African and that he was carrying a pistol with three rounds of ammunition. "Two [shots] were fired at the officers and one into the air."

​Updated at 15:02

However, information initially published on Friday by TVSucesso, on the other hand, pointed to an attempt by four citizens to steal money from an automatic teller machine (ATM) on the perimeter of the fuel pumps in the Coop district, which, for some time that night, saw the power cut off.

One of the security guards allegedly fired a few shots at the thugs and shot one. When the police arrived on the scene, they fired shots into the air.

Citing witnesses, the TVSucesso says that the criminals gave themselves up to the police without returning fire.

The management did not make any statements to the press, but spoke to agents from the National Criminal Investigation Service.

PRM confirmed the TVSuccesso it was an attempted kidnapping.